Former Knicks assistant Jeff Nix weighs in on Tom Thibodeau hire: 'Tom is a work-to-win guy'

Nix and Thibodeau worked together as Knicks assistants and again in Minnesota

8/4/2020, 8:38 PM
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Tom Thibodeau spent seven years as an assistant coach with the Knicks, mostly under Jeff Van Gundy. Jeff Nix was with New York when Thibodeau was on the bench. Nix also worked with Thibodeau in Minnesota.

So he has a qualified perspective on the new Knicks coach.

Nix and Thibodeau used to spend long nights at the team’s Westchester practice site (then at SUNY Purchase), heading to Kinkos before the start of training camp to put together the Knicks’ playbook.

“Crazy times,” Nix says.

Below, Nix talks about Thibodeau’s approach to coaching, the kind of player who thrives under Thibodeau, and how his approach off the court may surprise you:

THIBODEAU’S APPROACH AS AN ASSISTANT

“He’s very disciplined, very organized, bases a lot of stuff through precision. Everything has to be perfect. I think all the (Knicks) players embraced that (when Thibodeau was an assistant) – that’s part of winning. Everybody wants to win but you’ve also got to be willing to work to win and Tom is a work-to-win guy. The players that he coaches – if they’re willing to put the work in and willing to show a commitment to winning, then those are the guys that are going to play.

“He’ll start (instructing his teams) on the lowest basic level of basketball. Sometimes you might feel like you’re being coached in high school. But players who want to work to win buy in to that. And want to do it because it’s going to eventually make them better. I just think today, a lot of players think the minuscule stuff is above them. That’s why you find mistake players. And Tom wants to eliminate mistakes.

“….Tom expects perfection and any player that doesn’t want someone to expect them to be good and expect them to exceed what they even think they can do, then it might not be the right fit. But that’s not Tom’s fault. That would be the player’s fault. I would embrace a coach that is so engaged and wants to win and wants me to learn and wants me to be a better player. That’s all Tom wants to do.

“His results over time, he’s had great success. It hasn’t resulted in championships but it’s certainly resulted in turning franchises around. I think coaches around the league respect that. They know how hard it is to do that. Sometimes it’s even harder to do it the way it’s set up currently with so many young players.”

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ON THIBODEAU COACHING YOUNGER PLAYERS

“A lot of people will probably bash Tom, saying ‘He’s too old’ or ‘He’s not tuned into the younger players.’ That’s such a crock. It’s beyond disrespectful.

“This isn’t a gym class in high school. This is professional sports. You want to be a professional basketball player? You want to learn from one of the best coaches? And you want to be held accountable? Then you want to play for Tom Thibodeau. It’s pretty simple. Some of the best players that he’s had have supported Tom…. Some of the players that have had great talent that necessarily didn’t want to work particularly hard or buy all in, they’re the ones who are watching everybody else in the playoffs and are disgruntled and want to blame everybody but themselves.

WHAT’S THIBS LIKE OFF THE COURT?

“People who watch him for two hours a night, they probably see this guy out there who is sweating up a storm, yelling and looks like he’s completely miserable – which, 29 other coaches are doing the same thing every night. People don’t realize what a great sense of humor Tom has. He has a great laugh and he likes to have fun and he enjoys life. People don’t see that side. Because in professional sports your job is exposed every night and you’re measured every day in the newspapers when people look at the standings. So it’s easy to put coaches in silos…. But Tom likes to have fun, he enjoys life.

“People have to understand that there’s another side to him than what they see two or three hours a night. This idea that he is totally consumed, 24/7, grinding it out, miserable as hell way of living a life is so far from the truth. It really grinds at me because he’s totally different from that.

“He takes his job seriously – which, everyone in that organization, you would hope, takes their job seriously and is accountable for the jobs that they have to do. But there’s plenty of time to enjoy life and have fun and Tom does that. Tom has a network of really good friends, he’s got a good support network.

OPEN-MINDED

“Tom’s the first person who’s going to own up to mistakes. And all he asks of his players is to own up to their mistakes. He just wants players to work hard and to be able to self-evaluate. Did I give my best effort today? Or am I going to sit and point fingers? Those are all the little things that eventually grind away at the fabric of a championship-level team. Nothing’s perfect and everybody wants to play but there’s no blue ribbons in this league.

Tom’s also open minded. Sometimes people get the impression that it’s all defense – it’s this and that – he’s stubborn. Tom is always learning and trying to learn different ways and new ideas. He talks to coaches all the time, visits college coaches. He’s a communication guy. And he’s not afraid to ask for help or afraid to ask for a different way of doing something that maybe he’s done for five, six years. He’s always been open to trying something different and new and put players in the best position where they can be successful.”

WORK TO WIN MENTALITY

“There’s 300, 400 players in the league that say they want to win. But I think there are very few players who are willing to work to win. And I think there’s a big difference in that. Tom, (Knicks president) Leon (Rose and his group) will assemble a group of players who have that work-to-win attitude. All you need is three or four. You don’t need 15 right now. Just get three or four guys that are willing to do that. And then you’re going to see who is willing to fall in line with that philosophy and buy in to those other players. There are going to be some guys who aren’t willing to buy in and those are the guys who you need to move. Eventually you go from three-to-four to six-to-seven, and then you get nine-to-10 and 11-to-12. It just takes time. But you get that core base of guys that are willing to do the work to win and Tom and Leon will find them.”

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